How The Mind Changes
by HPtwilightfanatic
Summary: Annabeth had come here with Luke. Luke was her boyfriend. Luke was the one who had waited around for nearly twelve hours just to ensure that they could spend New Year's Eve in Times Square. So why was she not kissing him? PERCABETH oneshot! Happy New Year everyone!


Annabeth had come here with Luke. Luke was her boyfriend. Luke was the one who had waited around for nearly twelve hours just to ensure that they could spend New Year's Eve in Times Square.

So why was she not kissing him while everyone cheered around them, and confetti rained down, and it was noise overlapping on noise? Luke was not the one she was kissing, yet her brain was silent, consumed in this boy that was holding tightly to her waist and kissing her with more passion than she'd ever been kissed with in her entire life.

 _Earlier that day, December 31, 3:15_

"Guess what?"

"Luke, I don't really have much time. I'm trying to get the outline of these blueprints done so I can actually enjoy my long weekend. So forgive me if I don't guess."

"Will you just say 'what' then please?"

Annabeth heaved a sigh. "What?"

"I'm standing in Times Square right now."

"Is that so?"

Luke gave an equally annoyed sigh on the other side of the phone call. "Yes. And do you know what that means?"

"I think it's been established how much I want to participate in guessing games right now-"

"It means we get to spend New Year's here! We get to see the ball drop in real life!"

For a moment, the blueprints and the wrath of her boss fell away from Annabeth. "Seriously?" It was actually an impressive feat, that she'd lived in New York City for so long, and yet never spent New Year's Eve in Times Square. Luke had always teased her about it.

"Seriously! Just come meet me when you can get away from that crazy boss of yours."

The crazy boss in mention seemed to have heard Luke through the speaker of Annabeth's cellphone.

"Miss Chase, I believe we don't allow cellphone time in the office."

"Yes, Miss Minerva. I apologize." Annabeth said in a tight voice.

"Oops. My bad. See you tonight." Luke's voice echoed out before his name blinked on the screen, indicating he'd hung up.

"I hope you'll have those outlines and measurements to me by five, Miss Chase. And if there are mistakes, I will not hesitate to send them back." Minerva clicked her tongue before exiting.

No way am I working overtime, Annabeth thought bitterly, immediately sitting at her desk, checking the clock as she worked.

 _December 31, 4:59 pm_

Minerva poured over the outlines, scouring, Annabeth knew, for mistakes. It would give her boss the utmost pleasure to keep Annabeth there overtime on New Year's. But Annabeth only watched smugly as Minerva slipped the blueprints back into the folders, knowing full well that there were no mistakes to be found within them.

"Good work, Chase."

"Thank you."

"Have a good weekend."

"Happy holidays!"

Annabeth called cheerily over her shoulder as she left the office. She could feel the envious looks from her colleagues following her, and she basked in them as she pushed the door open.

A light snow was drifting from the sky, but it was warm enough that Annabeth needed no hat or scarf. A smile lit her lips as she made for her apartment. There was no way she'd be seen in her business attire at New Years. Where was the fun in that? She pressed Luke's name in her phone, and it rang and rang, going straight to his voicemail.

That's weird, Annabeth thought, but couldn't shake the feeling that was getting off of work early. Take that, Minerva!

However, Luke was still not picking up his phone after Annabeth had changed and already started walking toward the Square, since a taxi would be impossible to catch now. Annabeth jabbed at Luke's name one more time, knowing it would go to his voicemail like before. "Hi, you've reached Luke Castellan's phone…"

The crowd was gradually thickening with every step she took, and Annabeth wasn't quite watching where she was going as she mumbled to her phone screen angrily.

"Woah there." A deep, laughing voice caught her off guard as she nearly plowed into someone in her path, losing her footing. Their hands caught her shoulders as well, to keep them both standing in the bustling crowd of people. Annabeth was prepared to rail on this person, but when she threw her head back to face him, all of her frustration and annoyance at Luke vanished. The man who caught her had the most devil-may-care grin on his face, and his bright green eyes shone with all of the surrounding neon lights of the Square.

"Were you a bulldozer in another life?" He asked, laughter till underlining his every word.

An apology had been on her lips, but after that comment, Annabeth swallowed it back. "And you were a roadblock?" Not to her surprise, as his laughter had been threatening at the corner of his eyes since she'd looked up at him, he only responded with a snort.

Someone brushed past them roughly then. In the heat of New Year's Eve, they had places they needed to go before the last grains of sand slid into the bottom half of the hour glass, and like Annabeth they were not watching where they were going. They jostled her shoulder, pushing her closer into the stranger, who easily caught her again, though she wasn't falling, and pulled her along toward building closest to them, effectively avoiding any more reincarnated bulldozers.

"This is why I never want to go see the ball drop," the man muttered under his breath. Annabeth wasn't sure if she was meant to hear until he snuck a mischievous look at her. "Who came up with the event of 'dropping the ball' anyway? It just sounds dirty."

Despite herself, and all of the frustration at Luke only moments before, and despite that this man was a complete stranger, Annabeth found herself laughing. And the stranger seemed quite pleased that he'd raised a laugh out of her.

"Maybe that's why everyone finds the event so attractive." She said before really thinking. Part of her was mortified; had she really just made a sex joke to a stranger? He started it, she thought in retaliation. The stranger laughed, much louder than Luke ever did, that it was impossible not to join in with him.

After their laugher died down, drifting into the realm of nervousness near the end, they were left in a period of silence. At least, in the only type of silence the streets of New York City could allow, especially on New Year's Eve.

"Where are you headed?" He finally asked, inclining his head so she'd hear him over the din.

"Somewhere in the Square," she answered, feeling a little of her anger at Luke's lack of planning return. "What about you?"

"Some friends of mine are hosting a party. One of them is in a family business in some big electric company, and there's this rooftop party overlooking Times Square." To say the least, Annabeth was impressed. She'd much rather attend a private party than be smothered in the sea of people that would fill the streets. She understood the romantic gesture on Luke's part, but was it really so bad to watch the ball drop on television? The real glowing orb could not be all that magical.

"It's going to be a late night for both of us. Want some?" He pointed a thumb behind him, and Annabeth realized they were sheltered under the stoop of a café. Before waiting for her answer, he disappeared into the door. It was all her choice, to go on, or to follow him.

With a shrug and one last look at her blank phone screen, Annabeth ducked through the glass door.

 _December 31, 7:45 pm_

"Where is this party of yours?" Annabeth asked after another sip of coffee.

At that, the man, who had introduced himself as Percy Jackson, ("How could I have been so stupid? Here we are drinking coffee, and we don't know each other's names! Annabeth is a really unique name, by the way. Very pretty."), flushed a little.

"I don't actually know," he confessed, taking to looking at his coffee cup. "Jason texted me that address, but my phone…well, I sort of dropped it into a fish tank," he sent a playful glare to Annabeth when she snorted. "I won't have a new one for another week."

"You can use mine if you want." She pulled out her phone, absentmindedly noticing that there were no returned calls or messages from Luke. What could he be doing?

"Thanks, but I don't think it'll help. One problem with the generation of cellphones, no one has phone numbers memorized anymore." He smiled at her over his cup before taking another sip. "And you? What do you have to look forward to on this lovely New Year's Eve?"

"I was going to meet my boyfriend," Annabeth said, quickly stowing her phone away in the pocket of her jacket. "But he won't answer any of my calls or texts. It's like he expects me to sense where he is in this throng of people." She added sarcastically, but felt the true ring of anger strip through her.

"Boyfriend," the word sounded foreign coming from his mouth, and he seemed to swirl it around on his tongue, just as he did with the coffee.

"Well. Not exactly. It's complicated. I only used 'boyfriend' to avoid that part."

"Complicated boyfriend? People say that, and I don't know what it means."

Annabeth sighed. This wasn't her favorite subject. "It's complicated as in if I were to call him 'boyfriend' to his face, he'd wig out."

Percy nodded his head, his eyes narrowing slightly. "So it's just a _thing_?"

"I guess. Not quite a relationship, not just something casual."

"It's probably not my place, but the guy is an idiot if he's acting like that."

"It's not your place, but I agree."

They shared a smile, before awkwardly turning back to their coffees again.

"Why does New Years have to be such a couples' holiday?" Percy suddenly asked.

"It's not." Annabeth brushed stray curls out of her face, tucking them behind her ear. They didn't stay but it gave her hands something to do.

"Oh, but it is." Percy held up a finger, leaning toward her over the table. "Did I mention that all of my friends are dating? And that they all happen to be invited to this party? And that I'll be the only single one there?"

Annabeth eyed him, trying to stifle her grin. "Is this why you conveniently _dropped_ your phone into a fish tank?"

He gave a look of mock shock, but laughed anyway. "Fortunately and coincidentally, no. I don't have that kind of money to accidentally on purpose destroy my phone. But it did turn out to be a great excuse, didn't it?" His satisfied smile was too much for her to take. Her grin broke through, and dissolved into giggles.

Now, she knew that she should be looking for Luke. That's impossible, she thought in defense. There was no way she could find him in the middle of all of these people. However, she felt a little guilty. Mostly because she was enjoying talking to Percy much more than she probably should. She'd only known him for just over an hour, but in that hour they'd laughed and talked, and from the looks other patrons in the coffee shop were sending their way at the sounds of their jokes and uproarious laughter, she knew it sounded like they'd known each other for years.

Annabeth found she sort of felt that way too.

Glancing down at her watch, her throat went a little dry. Time was passing and her cup was empty. She had no more excuses.

"I better go find Luke." She sighed, looking across the table at Percy apologetically.

"Luke?" He asked before realization dawned. "Oh. Complicated boyfriend. Right."

The silence returned for a moment, tense and full of something that didn't have a name. Percy grabbed her cup in his own hand, standing along with her, and Annabeth sent him a surprised look. "I'll help you look for him if you help me find this mysterious address." He said brightly.

Two impossible tasks. Annabeth still felt guilty as Percy held the door open for her as they left, immersing back into the rush and excitement that was the anticipation of welcoming the New Year. But she found she did not feel quite guilty enough to deny his company.

 _December 31, 9:30 pm_

"I can't believe you never watched _Clash of the Titans_!" Percy exclaimed.

"I don't appreciate the inaccuracies about actual mythology! The movie is basically one big war!" Annabeth answered

"And that's a problem?"

This isn't really looking for Luke her brain reminded her. But Annabeth blissfully ignored it. She kept her phone handy, watching for any message or call. She'd even tried calling him for the thousandth time, but there was still no answer.

"Maybe he can't hear it." Percy offered as they squeezed through groups of people, shoulder to shoulder.

"Yeah, that's probably it," But then why wasn't he calling her? It had been hours. Wasn't he worried?

A group of teenage girls wrestled in their path, screeching about the next band to perform, and how they needed to reach the stage. Some of them somehow managed to squeeze between Percy and Annabeth. Before the crowd could take advantage of that bit of space and overcome it, Annabeth's hand shot out and grabbed hold of Percy's wrist. After the girls passed, Percy's fingers wrapped around hers. She gave him a surprised look, arching an eyebrow.

"I think it'd be safer this way. It's hard to stick together in all of this."

She granted that, and they continued on through the crowd, with Annabeth desperately trying to keep her thoughts off of the warmth of Percy's hand in hers.

 _December 31, 11:00 pm_

When both of their stomachs rumbled in revolt, they ended up buying hotdogs. And true New York hotdogs could not be eaten standing elbow to elbow in a crowd. Plenty of room was needed for consumption. Percy pulled her against a skyscraper whose top seemed to melt in with the night sky.

"I haven't had one of these in years." Annabeth said around a bite of hotdog, knowing she sounded rude with her mouth full. Percy didn't seem to mind though, as he moaned in agreement as he chewed.

After they finished and wiped their hands clean as best they could, Percy asked, "Do you have a place?"

"What?"

"Do you and this complicated boyfriend person have a place? Is there a place he'd expect you to know to meet him in Times Square?"

Annabeth filed through memories. They'd gone to private school together in Long Island, so that couldn't be it. They always went to this Italian restaurant on Fifth, but that wasn't near the Square either. Luke worked just off Broadway, but even that was too far from the main action. Though—

"Oh, I'm stupid," she could have physically slapped her hand to her forehead. "Our first date was seeing _Wicked!_ He's probably in front of Broadway!" She looked toward the opposite side of the Square from where she was standing with Percy, and back down at her watch. "That's still going to be impossible to reach by midnight."

Percy took her hand once more. "Of course it won't be."

 _December 31, 11:50 pm_

Annabeth was starting to think that she really wasn't so stupid.

Some part of her must have known that Luke would wait for her in front of Broadway. That's where they met sometimes after work when they went to dinner. So why hadn't she gone there straight away?

But she knew the answer to that without even having to think.

Because of Percy.

There was just something about him, something that drew her in. The moment he'd caught her from falling, not one cell in her body had been opposed to his presence. It had been months before she let Luke hold her hand in public. Hell, they barely touched now, in their so-called and complicated relationship that wasn't really a relationship. And then tonight, she hadn't even flinched when Percy had clasped their hands together.

They'd never make it in time. It wasn't due to lack of faith, as Percy claimed. It was just plain impossible. There were just too many people, too many blockades, too much, too much. They weren't halfway across the Square, and there was only five minutes to go until midnight.

Realizing this, Annabeth planted her feet, tugging Percy backward. He whirled to face her, and immediately was jostled much too close to her.

And again, not a single cell of her being complained.

"What is it?" He called over the pure noise of the crowd.

"We're not going to make it!"

Percy shook his head adamantly. But Annabeth spoke before he could. "It's okay. Really." She squeezed his hand in hers to show him how alright it really was, and his eyebrows furrowed.

"Only a minute left to go!" Someone beside them screamed, their voice joining in all of the shouts and cheers.

"I mean, the whole point is a stupid kiss at midnight. So what's the use if you miss midnight?" Annabeth laughed, feeling her stomach leap nervously. "Maybe you're right. New Years has really become a couples' holiday."

"20…19…18…17…"

"Now you see why I avoided that party." And Percy's grin was back, making her stomach leap again.

"11…10…9…8…7…"

"It's such a silly tradition really. The kissing part. The Spanish eat twelve grapes at midnight." She wasn't sure where that fact had come from.

"That sounds so much more fun than kissing." Percy said, his green eyes flickering over her face, even as the ball lit up the night as it sank lower and lower, the shouts growing louder and louder in "3…2…1!"

"Midnight." Annabeth pointed out for no real reason at all.

The tune of 'Auld Lang Syne' filled the Square, and her mind flashed the image of Luke standing at Broadway alone just before she tilted her head up, moving closer to this boy she'd just met only hours ago, who made her laugh, who made her feel like the world was made just for two, who was angling his head down toward her and their noses brushed, and she felt his fingers tighten their grip on her hand as their lips met and—

And it felt like they'd been submerged underwater.

The world went silent to her ears. All she was aware of was Percy's hand in hers, his other reaching up to hold the side of her neck, and how their lips folded together. Of their own volition, her arms wound around his neck, Percy's hands took purchase on her waist and pulled her so she arched against him, simultaneously deepening the kiss.

Annabeth couldn't remember for the life of her how long she remained there, wrapped up contently in Percy's arms. Kissing him was an otherworldly experience that she never wanted to return from.

But the real world called. People were shoving them as the pause of thousands of kisses returned to exuberance as Frank Sinatra's voice crooned, echoing through the streets. When Annabeth opened her eyes again, Percy's green ones were not far away. She wanted to pull him back, but Percy's hands held her head. He muttered something, but the noise upon noise was back.

"What?"

"Your phone is buzzing." Percy told her, his mouth right against her ear.

Of course. Of course now you call back, Annabeth cursed in her head, struggling to reach her pocket. Sure enough, Luke's name lit up her buzzing phone urgently. Her thumb was poised over the button to take the call, but she couldn't make it move. Annabeth could feel Percy watching her, particularly her thumb. Before she could make a decision, the buzzing stopped. Without a word, Annabeth shoved the phone back into her pocket. She looked up at Percy, daring him to say something.

He did. But it wasn't what she expected to hear. "Let's get out of here." He said.

She smiled, taking hold of his hand once more in response, and they maneuvered their way out of Times Square.

 _January 1, 1:05_

"This is me." Annabeth said quietly, stopping right before her apartment building.

"Complicated Luke doesn't live with you, does he?" Percy asked suddenly.

Annabeth shook her head as she laughed. "Why, did you want to come in?"

A flush spread over his face, and he stuttered. "N-no. I was only wondering." He met her eyes. She held his stare, not wanting to turn around, away from him yet. But there was nothing left to do.

"Well," A 'goodnight' was on her lips, but a small gasp escaped instead as she felt Percy slip her phone out of her hands. She failed to hide a grin as she saw him type in his phone number.

"And you were lamenting that you had no numbers memorized."

He rolled his eyes, but laughed all the same as he handed her phone back, their fingers brushing a little too long.

"Happy New Year, Annabeth."

"To you too, Percy."

 _February 14, 8:00 am_

"We really need to put a stop to all of these couples' holidays." Annabeth commented, accepting the coffee cup that Percy extended to her.

"This is true," he agreed, throwing an arm around her shoulders as they walked. "But what we really need to put a stop to is Jason's tendency to have couples' holiday based parties."

"I agree." Annabeth laughed, gratefully curling into Percy's extra warmth he added. He paused in the sidewalk, a much easier thing to do when they weren't brimming with spectators, and angled a warm kiss on her lips, filled with the taste of coffee.

"Though," he murmured thoughtfully. "They are easier to bear when you're actually a part of a couple."


End file.
